UTS Alumni Conference

Introduction and Overview of Returning Resurrection and the various Reasons why We might Return. by Michael Callahan

I would like to begin with a 7-minute video presentation, based on the Divine Principle text, that articulates I think, some of the foundational qualities of what Unificationists call, ‘returning resurrection.’

DP text will appear on the bottom of the screen. My own whole sentences or phrases are added up in the top half of the screen where the images appear. In the following transcript of the video, my own words and sentences will use italics.

Note that the use of bracketed words [ ] are sometimes interspersed with the DP text. These are additions inserted outside of the DP text but hopefully represent the DP’s viewpoint.

DP Video 73 is called “Returning Resurrection” and the transcript text follows:

According to the Principle of Creation, the growth of the human spirit requires two kinds of nourishment. These are the life elements received from God and vitality elements received through interaction with the physical self (in the video, I animate these two energies; the vitality elements flow from the physical self and the life elements flow from God’s essence which is posited in this diagram from a position that reflects both God’s transcendence apart from the created world and God’s immanence which is in the created two worlds of spirit and matter). Spirits can neither grow nor be resurrected apart from the physical self. (I will posit one more quality later in my presentation).

Consequently, the spirits of people who died before they could reach perfection during earthly life, can be resurrected only by returning to earth. Spirit people who seek resurrection, return to earth in order to complete their growth through cooperation with earthly people. By assisting people of similar responsibilities to fulfill their missions, / the spirits may complete their own unaccomplished work at the same time. (note: at this point, the video seems to suggest that spiritual growth requires having a providential mission in order to achieve character maturity and perfection of heart). We call this process [where departed spirits can mature ] as returning resurrection.

People can become receptive to good spirits through prayer and other spiritual activities [ i.e. making the world a better place for others ]. Spirit people having similar shared interests (common base), are attracted to them and work together with them. These returning spirit people may give deep inspiration, good health and fortune as they guide their counterparts on earth to accomplish the Will of God. Good Spirits never manipulate people on earth. They inspire, guide and comfort us. They respect our autonomy.

Let us draw an example from the Bible. Jesus referred to John the Baptist, who lived on the earth, as the return of the prophet Elijah. Jesus called him Elijah because in terms of their common mission, John’s body concurrently served as Elijah’s body. The spirit of Elijah came to John the Baptist to help John fulfill the mission Elijah had left unfinished during his previous earthly life.

People who lived during the Old Testament Age (OTA) who kept the Mosaic Law and worshipped God sincerely went to the form-spirit level of the spirit world. When Jesus opened up a higher life-spirit level, these OTA spirits returned to earth to assist faithful people to attain the level of life spirit. Through this assistance, these OTA spirits too received the same benefit: namely, they became life spirits and entered Paradise (note: these resurrected spirits were also receiving life elements from God’ parental love towards adopted children of God).

Compared to Paradise, the region of the spirit world where the spirits of the Old Testament saints were staying, was relatively dark and miserable. Thus, it was called a “tomb” in Matthew 27:52-3.

“the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”
( Matthew 27:52-3)

These verses do not mean that these saints’ decayed bodies were regenerated, enabling them to rise up in the flesh. If the saints had risen bodily from their tombs, their deeds and works would have been recorded, yet we have nothing but the vague report. This was a fleeting spiritual phenomenon perceptible only to those believers whose spiritual senses were opened.

Rather, it describes the spiritual phenomenon of returning resurrection. The spirits of the faithful Jews rose from the form-spirit level of the spirit world where they had been living. They returned to help the believers on earth to benefit from the redemption by the cross, and believe in Jesus and become life spirits. In doing so, they returning spirits also became life spirits.

The spirits of people who believed in Jesus during the New Testament Age (NTA) will return to earth to help faithful people believe in and attend the returning Christ. By thus helping people on earth to attain the level of divine spirits, they too will receive the same benefit and become divine spirits. In returning resurrection, the spirits not only help earthly people, earthly people also assist in the resurrection of the spirits.

Let us elucidate the following verse, Hebrews 11:29-40:
And all these, [saints of the old testament age ]
though well attested by their faith,
did not receive what was promised, [permission to enter the kingdom of Heaven]
since God had foreseen something better [God’s kingdom]
for us [people on Earth at Christ’s return]
that apart from us, they [people in the spirit world]
should not be made perfect. [divine spirits in Heaven]

With this explanation, we can understand that this verse accurately depicts returning resurrection. It illustrates that spirits living in the spirit world cannot attain perfection apart from the cooperation of earthly people.

The Divine Principle text focuses on the idea of “mission” for returning resurrection. Divine Principle text speaks of another mission for all religious people or non-religious people for returning: to attend and help the new Christ and his mission on earth.

In the Cheong Pyeong worldview, the purpose for return is not just about a mission or attendance. It is also about human growth towards perfection / maturity. It is about developing heart and love. Spirits who have been “liberated” have gone through a 100-day workshop in the spirit world. They have reviewed their lives and repented of their sins and fallen outlook. Through tears of repentance, they have washed away traces of the fallen condition in their lives. Through the blessing ceremony in the spirit world, they have removed the final vestige of sin in their lives, the original sin. Then they become what Cheong Pyeong calls, “absolute good spirits.” Such spirits are not yet perfected. They must continue their growth through returning resurrection with and through us.

The Returning Resurrection video tried to illustrate this additional purpose for return resurrection. In order to grow, we need life elements from God and vitality elements from the physical body. It is my personal view that spirits will forever interact with the physical life in order to sustain their healthy spiritual life with physical vitality energies. Vitality energies are not just for growth but for maintenance.
As I understand the Unificationist worldview, our ancestors are somehow connected to our physical bodies as a kind of extension of their own physical body. Even though their own physical body no longer exists, a part of their bodies does continue on through lineage.

Finally, I would like to address the idea of mission. In the Divine Principle, spirits like Elijah return to accomplish a previous unfulfilled mission. Now that True Father is in spirit world and directing God’s providence from there, he is probably giving new direction and missions to the absolute good spirits. It is not unreasonable to imagine many of them are being assigned new missions. Some of these new missions are probably going to be accomplished with our cooperation.

For Unificationists to return in the future after our physical deaths, we too have to be liberated. We will go to a 100-day workshop in the spirit world. DaeMo nim says time in the spirit world is different; a 100-day workshop is actually experienced as 100 years in the spirit world. After this period of reflection and repentance and resolve, we will go to a new spiritual place in the spirit world that reflects our cleansed status. Most likely, we will 1) work with our physical descendants to continue our shared growth towards perfection of heart and 2) we may feel some remorse at having failed to complete any providential missions of the past and may want to return and work with like-minded people on the earth and 3) we may be assign a new providential mission by True Father in the spirit world to accomplish on the earth which may be very different from any previous missions we may have had which served the providence previously.

The Divine Principle teaches that even after you pass away and happen to go to a low level of the spirit world because you unfortunately have not lived an ethical enough life on the earth, you can still “return” spiritually to an earthly person, most likely your bereaved spouse or descendent, for your needed spiritual growth, which the Divine Principle calls “resurrection.” You can spiritually benefit this resurrection, by receiving merit from the good deeds of your earthly counterpart to whom you return. Hence your “returning resurrection.”

We live in a dual world: the world of matter, material goods and finance, and our mortal bodies; and the world of the mind, ideas, feelings, and the spirit. This paper takes up the issue of “Returning Resurrection” from the standpoint of science, financial preparation and responsibility, as well from that of scripture and spiritual concerns, hinting at their common elements and eventual unification.

Eternal life, reincarnation, and resurrection always have captured the profound interest and deep desire of people; while the scientific method, trying to make sense of all of nature, have been used to study both the visible working of the human body, as well as the intricate functions of the human mind and emotions, and soon, hopefully, the soul[1].

According to the Divine Principle, returning resurrection has only been necessary because fallen human beings have failed to fulfill the purpose of creation during their lifetimes.

In the Completed Testament Age, the path is open for humans to avoid the need for returning resurrection by fulfilling the First Blessing.

In this paper I will explore the idea of fulfilling the First Blessing in the context of the teaching of the Divine Principle, the words of our founder the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and my own spiritual experiences through prayer and meditation.

Simply put, completing the First Blessing means attaining oneness with God as an individual. Page 97 of Exposition of the Divine Principle states that it is now possible to do this due to “the merit of the age”:

In the Last Days, therefore, many faithful believers will acquire the ability to communicate with God…

Lived the high life of a rich man’s son, played at poetizing in the Courtly Love tradition, went to war (1204), was captured, was called back to Assisi by a vision. Begging with the poor at (old) St. Peter’s Church in Rome moved him to a life of evangelical poverty.

1210—Francis and his followers were authorized as a religious society, the Order of Friars Minor, by Pope Innocent III (1198-1216). Thereafter, Francis founded the Order of Poor Clares (for women), and, later, the Order of Brothers and Sisters of Penance (so-called “the Third Order,” for ordinary people). Lived a life of Christ-like poverty, experienced many miracles, guided the rapid expansion of the OFM until 1223.

1219—walked through the battle lines of the 5th Crusade to an audience with Sultan al-Malik al-Kamil (1180-1238), preached the gospel to him, and proposed the “trial by fire.” [In 1229, al-Kamil and Emperor Frederic II peacefully negotiated the only treaty between the Muslims and Christians, ceding Jerusalem, Bethlehem, et al.]

1223—instituted the first “living” Nativity Scene at Christmas.

1224—became the first stigmatic on Mt. Alverna when he experienced a vision of the seraphic Christ and received the wounds of the Crucified in his body.

1226—died on 3 October.

1228—canonized on 16 July; patron of animals, the environment, and (with Catherine of Siena) of Italy. Feast Day, 4 October.

An Ideal World: Inevitable or Impossible? by Henry Christopher (UTS’80)

Although many religious people consider themselves the “children” of God, the gap between God and His children is so wide, one wonders if an ideal world can ever be achieved. However, if we consider the origin and nature of God and ourselves as his children, there is ample reason to believe humankind will one day cast off its selfish nature and establish a long cherished world of peace and harmony with God, the creation and ourselves—the long awaited “Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.”

To understand why we can have confidence humankind will establish an ideal world, let’s first consider some fundamental questions about God: Who is God? How did God originate? Why do we say that God is love? Is God and His creation really eternal?

I joined the Unification Church three times before I decided to stay: in Boston in June 1973; in New York City just before Father’s speech at Carnegie Hall that September; and lastly, at Dr. David Ang’s center in Worcester, Massachusetts in spring 1974.

I left the Church even though I believed the Divine Principle and that Rev. Sun Myung Moon was the returning Christ. What drove me away was the chaotic way in which the Church functioned, which often resulted in sacrificing a loving and spiritual atmosphere inside the movement that was proclaiming True Love.

According to the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, God was born out of love, decided to create humankind because He needed a partner in love, but had to conduct a Providence of Restoration shortly after Adam and Eve came to earth due to their Fall. Today, we look for the resolution of that Providence so that we can finally enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and in the spirit world.

In our church, we often associate returning resurrection with the efforts of spirits to further the mission of the Lord of the Second Advent; see Exposition of the Divine Principle, pp. 146, 150-151. Hence, many of us used to experience the work of spirits in helping us in fundraising and witnessing. But in fact, returning resurrection occurs in all sorts of contexts, in any situation where spiritual growth is possible.

Now after Foundation Day, we are in the age to actualize Cheon Il Guk. The work of the Messiah on earth is over. I believe he laid a victorious foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven, but he left the work of building it to us. Therefore, I do not have much use for “attending” (if attending means worshipping or following) the Messiah. I rather think that the task at hand is to build God’s Kingdom, and this has to be done in every domain of life. It is a task for everyone, whether Unificationist or not. It begins most especially in the family; we are supposed to build true families. Yet our families must also serve the society and the world, like Father Moon’s family has. I think that building true families and establishing a peaceful world is the true meaning of attendance, because that is what will make our Parents most proud of us as their children.

The key issue that we must address in order to actualize Cheon Il Guk is gender balance. People are only beginning to come to grips with the deep-rooted religious and cultural bias that is thousands of years deep. It was reinforced by the view that God, as Heavenly Father, is essentially masculine, and that therefore a woman’s role is to follow her husband and take her concepts of God from male authority figures. Now True Mother has declared that God is our Heavenly Parent, and Heavenly Mother is beginning to emerge from the shadows. She has endured so much grief and pain from the suffering of womankind through history. Heavenly Mother would want women to claim their true estate as Her daughters who are fully capable of incarnating the Divine Mother in all that they are.

The Divine Principle was written in the Age prior to Foundation Day based on male paradigms of restoration, such as indemnity and Cain and Abel. However, Father declared in 2009 that we are no longer ensnared by indemnity. He also spoke about how women are natural peacemakers. This means that God has access to diverse ways of making peace between testosterone-charged men besides the time-worn and often bloody Cain-Abel struggle. Sometimes it’s enough for a sister to come in and offer both men a cup of coffee. Note that the recent impasse in Congress over the debt ceiling was solved by a bipartisan group of women senators.

Spirits are people. They come in all beliefs and levels. They are just as confused as people on earth about matters pertaining to God and growing towards the ideal. Angels, too, are beset with ignorance—consider Lucifer’s ignorance of God’s will at the Fall. However, ever since Lucifer surrendered in March 1999, and especially now after Foundation Day, I no longer consider the so-called “evil spirits” as evil. God’s dominion stretches everywhere, even down to hell. Even so, many spirits are at low levels of understanding and do not know how to overcome bad habits and bad states of mind.

Therefore, education of the spirit world is very important. If your spiritual environment—the spirit guides and attending spirits that surround you—are ignorant of certain matters, they can make it difficult for you to move forward. Therefore, they need to be “upskilled.” Working one improving oneself needs to involve improving our attending spirit entourage. This is also a type of returning resurrection, but the initiative is from earth to heaven.

Your mission does not end at death. When you ascend, you should expect to continue your work. Whatever you didn’t accomplish on earth, you can still work on it. There is a lot we have left undone; our church has failed in so many respects. But we are in good company. We will join the saints of history, from Adam and Eve to Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist, who all have grown in the intervening centuries to become champions of the providence. Don’t think that John the Baptist is the same confused person that he was in the Bible; he long ago united with his brother Jesus and now they work side-by-side. It’s the same with Mary; even Adam and Eve.

Unificationists are tasked to liberate hell. So you may find yourself in the ascended world with the mission to comfort 10,000 murdered Syrians, trying to convey God’s love to them. Those of you who have taken CPE training will be advantaged in this.

You can try to educate your spiritual entourage by reading Hoondok Hae, but if you find it boring, you can be sure that they do too. So it is important to look for new inspiration, and to do your best to put True Parent’s words into practice. More important is to always check with God, to see that what you are doing, saying and thinking is in accord with Her/Him. When your spiritual entourage sees that you are in touch with God, and that God is beginning to trust you, they will want to support you all the more.

God is the glue that holds together the members of the Unification Church. But in a time when members are confused and thinking more about money, personalities and what leaders are doing than they are about God, people are becoming unglued. This is a sure sign that God is leaving the church. But when members work to develop their own individual relationship with God, they can access the source of spiritual strength for unity and revival.

This is my final facebook tribute to my wonderful wife Debbie who passed to the highest spirit world on August 17 after a year long battle with pancreatic cancer.
Thanks for all the kind comments and support we received.
Debbie had a very beautiful Sueng Wha on the 21st. It was very hard for me to get through the ceremony and the viewing but at the end I felt liberated that she had ascended.
Three days later Debbie’s spirit appeared to a friend of mine and told her she left behind a diary for me. After searching through the whole house amazingly I found it!
I was shocked and filled with gratitude and renewed hope. Love is eternal!

I just met with a medium. Debbie came through and first thing asked if I got the dream she sent of her giving me a kiss. I told her yes I got it (about a week after she passed). Debbie was happy and said she would be giving me more dreams! I’m looking forward to going to sleep!
Debbie said she was met by her grandmother (a very religious lady). She has lots of energy, checks on the kids (and I suppose me) and says she is very excited and is learning a lot. Her comment on the SW is that it is “breathtakingly beautiful!”

The following conversation involves a person who has transitioned to spirit. G died recently of abdominal cancer. She shares about self-hostility and its impact on her physical body.

* * * * *

Conversation with G:

Listen to me Beatriz for I feel that my words are coming as a whisper. I need to project myself into the realm that already seems to be moving away from me at such a pace. I am learning to navigate through this transition still. I am not quite in this world of spirit, but no longer in the physical realm.

I first wish to extend my love and heart to my children and my husband. I love them so much and want them to know this. My love for them did not die with my body. We live on, and in truth can love from a deeper space within. It’s difficult to put into words, but so felt. To my friend who lives far away, I want her to know that now there are no miles separating us.

Do you have a question for me?

Yes. G my question is about your transition experience and also about cancer and any insights that you might have, now that you have transitioned, that relate with the expression of this disease in your physical body.

I will express what I understand so far. Let me tell you first about my transition experience. There was no pain. Maybe there is pain upon passing but immediately upon dying to the physical world, one is embraced by so much light and love which fills the spiritual senses, that the physical experience is almost erased from memory. It is but a faint image that has no bearing on the moment. What I do remember is all the love that surrounded me in the last weeks and months before my passing, the care of those who attended to me and the angels who frequently surrounded me, although I tried to push them away. I was resisting my passing to the end. I felt that to embrace my dying was to betray my husband and children and so I didn’t allow myself to stay in this light that frequently covered me with comfort and hope.

I wish that I had a grasp of what happened in my physical life and where I missed the point. I am coming to grips with this now through the help of my spiritual guides, but it is still something that eludes me. It has to do with hostility toward self and others. This is one hurdle that proved to be more than I could overcome: self hostility. I had anger about what unfolded in my life from childhood, but that anger would have been benign had I not turned it against myself. One does this when anger is toward a parent. I love my mother and did not want to direct this anger at her. It was so confusing really. It is the dilemma of the child who grows up with abusive parents. There is the natural desire to express filial piety mixed with pain and anger. I held that anger within me for too long…………and it became like a dagger into my heart. I did it to myself although at the time I could not see it. Now I am working through this. Why it’s difficult to put into words is that, as you can see, this is something I am just awakening to.

Even if someone hinted that I brought this illness upon myself, I would deny it and push it away. But here it is, and I am laying it out to you as clearly as I understand it right now………….even just as I become aware of it.

I would like to say more, but the light beings signal me that I am reaching the limit of my abilities to communicate. They will talk to you.

Thank you, Beatriz, for listening to me.

_______________________

Beatriz, these are the Light Beings. We greet you with joy and love this morning. We see that you are feeling tightness in your back. Your friend, G has carried a big burden through this lifetime and still has not totally released it. And so you feel the tension of this hold that she still has to her physical life which is no more.

She is moving through necessary stages of awareness. She can take only small bits of what is there for her to digest, but there is no hurry. She is in good spirits and still flying high on the love and support she continues to receive from her family and friends. She needs that right now more than ever. And we are here to help her also.

We are glad to greet you Beatriz and to bring to you this fine person, G.

Love, The Light BeingsE.

Moral Autonomy of the Blessed Couple/Family by Dr Noda (Prof at UTS)

The radical nature of an idea is often exhibited by its power to transform our framework of thinking. As the word “radical” indicates (radix means “root” in Latin), a radical idea requires us to reexamine fundamental presuppositions we take for granted.

One radical concept in Rev. Moon’s philosophy is the Blessed Couple/Family. Marriage is generally understood as a social, religious, and legal union of a husband and a wife, which generates moral and legal obligations between them and their immediate family members. Marriage in the ordinary sense does not imply a change in the relationship between married individuals and God. Even within most religious traditions, which recognize marriage as sacred, a marriage blessed by God (or gods) does not alter in any way the relationship between human beings and God. Marriage is nothing more than another happy life event.

The Blessed Marriage/Family in Rev. Moon’s later philosophy, however, is quite different. Rev. Moon asked each Blessed Couple to pray in their own name without the mediation of an external authority, such as Christ or True Parents. In the history of Christianity, to “pray in your own name” is a radical claim, which is unheard of in any Christian denomination. One way to understand this claim is to see it as an assertion of the moral autonomy of the Blessed Couple/Family. In reference to Kant and Plato, this article will articulate the idea of moral autonomy and point out the responsibility of each Blessed Couple/Family in this “post-postmodern” (i.e., after postmodernism) era.

“Pray in Your Own Name”

In Christian traditions, human beings are considered as sinful to the extent they cannot directly communicate with God. In prayer life, thus, people are told to pray in the name of Jesus as the Mediator. Anyone, be it the Pope or a layperson, needs Christ as the Mediator, a religious authority external to him or her, in communicating with God.

In the history of the Unification Church, Rev. and Mrs. Moon were understood as the True Parents. Rev. Moon asked followers to pray in the “name of the True Parents,” where they served as the Mediators between God and human beings.

During the later years of his life, Rev. Moon told Blessed Couples/Families to change their prayers and asked them to pray in their own names. Communication with God required no mediator, such as Jesus or True Parents. The Blessed Couple/Family was asked to communicate with or report to God directly.

In Unification Theology, the Blessing is considered the turning point of redemption. Once a couple receives the Blessing, that couple is theologically free from original sin. The new prayer form re-affirms this theological doctrine.

Rev. Moon also adapted the concept of the Messiah to diverse social spheres. He did not limit Messiahship just to a single person, such as Jesus; rather, Blessed Couples and Families are to become Tribal Messiahs and National Messiahs by serving and building communities. Each Blessed Couple was authorized to bestow the Blessing to others as well. The direction to pray without a mediator was, at the same time, a demand for each Blessed Couple/Family to become a Messiah.

Rev. Moon thus concomitantly asked Blessed Couples/Families to change their consciousness from a submissive mentality to one of “ownership” in their lives of faith, and stressed the importance of securing their own “conscience” as the seat of true love, God’s dwelling place. He used such phrases as “the conscience is greater than God, True Parents, and the teacher.” These threads of thoughts seem to point to the concept of autonomy, a central idea in moral philosophy.

Autonomy and Heteronomy

Immanuel Kant, an 18th century German philosopher, most clearly formulated the moral autonomy of each person. As the term autonomy (auto means “self,” and nomos means “laws” in Greek) implies, he identified each person as self-legislated: each person imposes moral laws upon himself or herself; moral principle is an integral part of the individual.

Kant contrasted autonomy to heteronomy (hetero means “other” in Greek). The latter is the state of being whose laws come from outside of him or herself. Instead of being self-legislating and self-regulating, heteronomous individuals are regulated by or subjugated to external forces, laws, and authorities. Kant argued, genuine moral discourse and actions are possible only when one is autonomous.

If a person is heteronomous, he or she cannot “own” their actions as his or hers. An autonomous individual alone can “own” his or her actions as his or hers, and thus take moral responsibility. Freedom and integrity are possible only when one can legislate oneself.

Kant’s perspective on the moral integrity of the individual resonates with such concepts of the human being as an “Individual Embodiment of Truth,” or “Embodiment of Logos” in Unification Philosophy.

Similarly, societies, organizations, or institutions can be either autonomous or heteronomous or both in different degrees. Nevertheless, moral autonomy is the basis for freedom and responsibility. Moral autonomy resonates with the ownership consciousness Rev. Moon so articulated.

Euthyphro Dilemma

Although Kant did not apply his argument regarding moral autonomy to God, it is possible to apply it to God from a Unificationist perspective. In particular, the Euthyphro Dilemmahelps us explore the idea of moral autonomy as it relates to God. Although the dilemma seems irrelevant to the issue of morality, it illustrates the application of the concept of moral autonomy to God’s own nature.

The Euthyphro Dilemma is problematic concerning the relationship between moral good and God’s will/command, formulated by Plato. In one of his dialogues, Euthyphro, Socrates asks Euthyphro: “Are the pious loved by the gods because they are pious, or are they pious because they are loved by the gods?” This question can be formulated in various ways. For example, one formulation can be: Is something morally good because it is commanded by God or does God command it because it is good?

The first position identifies the good with God’s command or His will. It holds that whatever God commands or wills is considered good. His will and command define the good. This position is called God Command Ethics. There are a number of problems regarding this position. First, “God’s will” is not clear to human beings in this position. Since God’s will or command is always mediated by somebody, if his or her interpretation is believed to originate from a divine will/command, he or she can justify any action or interpretation. Thus, no moral accountability is necessary as far as an action is believed to originate from a divine will. Witch hunts, inquisitions, indulgences, racial cleansing, or terrorism become “good” as far as it is identified as God’s will or command. This position is theoretically quite fragile, although it is often used in political rhetoric.

The second position presupposes the existence of truth apart from God’s will/command. According to the second position, God established truth apart from His will and regulates His will according to the criteria of truth or principles that He established Himself. God wills or commands based upon the self-regulatory or self-legislating mechanism. In a sense, God wills or commands to the extent it is morally right and accountable. In other words, God makes Himself morally accountable by regulating His will/command according to the principles He legislated.

In my reading of the Principle, this second position is closer to Unificationism. Although Kant did not engage in this kind of a theological discussion, the moral autonomy of the individual has a theological basis in the Unificationist understanding of the nature of God. This parallel between humans and God in the mechanism of moral autonomy is a startling insight.

Moral Autonomy, Accountability, and Responsibility

The individual is certainly morally autonomous and must be morally accountable for his life and actions. As Plato placed the Idea of the Good at the top of all Ideas, moral accountability is the underlying requirement for one’s actions and life above all other requirements. Each individual faces the divine court of justice for his or her actions and life at the end of life: “Did you live right?” No one is immune from the demand for moral accountability. As Rev. Moon emphasized the importance of conscience, the demand for moral accountability seems to have been inscribed in one’s conscience, which he called the “dwelling place of God” (see his 1995 UTS Commencement Founder’s Address: “Strengthen the Power of Your Conscience”). The Blessing can be seen as the expansion of the moral sphere to that of love and life.

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, as defined by Rev. Moon, is possible only when the Blessed Couple/Family substantiates the sphere of love upon moral autonomy. Prayer as “reporting” to God indicates the autonomy and responsibility of the Blessed Couple/Family as a builder of the Kingdom of Heaven. Rather than asking God for help, one is tasked to take responsibility and report accomplishments to God with gratitude. The concept of autonomy in Unification Philosophy implies that the Blessed Couple/Family is tasked to be its own redeemer and savior.♦

F.

Gordon Anderson (UTS’77)

On the topic of “Resurrecting the Nation,” I offer a copy of a recent comment of mine on “Applied Unificationism.” The main point is that America should be resurrected morally. By putting self-interest and the use of power above moral constraints on government by culture, one could argue that America joins “Satan’s side.” One way to view Resurrection, in my view, is to return to God’s side.

National interest and power politics, a doctrine of international thuggery, became an established norm backed by the theories of Hans Morgenthau, who ironically was always in conflict with Morton A. Kaplan. Kaplan promoted a systems view, which recognized balance of power among states, and that international society should be a “community.” One can understand why Al Qaeda, North Korea, and other groups that use terrorism argue that they are morally justified in their attacks, when the West appears to use its superior power and technology to get what it wants.
Morgenthau used Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Christian Realism” as a basis for his “Political Realism,” but he left out the Christian values. Niebuhr was just saying the Christians have to be realistic about power, that it must be understood, not that it should be the strategy of first resort.
The U.S. invasion of Iraq was the first time the U.S. violated Christian just war theory, with its preemptive attack on Iraq. One can compare this attack to the FBI’s use of a S.W.A.T. team to domestically overpower Elián González’s family to return him to Cuba, or line up an Army outside the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. Increasingly the police are ready to shoot before being fired upon — putting their interests ahead of those they are sworn to protect. This attitude of putting power above humanity is a symptom of a loss of cultural values in a technological age. Drone attacks perhaps epitomize this attitude, because there is never the slightest hint that the criminal should be captured and given a fair trial.
I do not think the world is made more safe by anyone who uses power first to pursue national interest. It does not help superpowers who use it as a method of first resort, or the terrorists who are essentially doing the same thing. Reverend Moon taught that “Satan strikes first” and that when God’s side absorbs the first blow, it will eventually win because Satan’s side will have exposed its true nature and people of conscience will turn against it.

F.

1945 – 2012 The Life of Rev Moon and the Fulfillment of True Parents

November 21, 2013 at 9:00pm

Transcript of Rev. Young Hwi Kim’s Full Address in Los Angeles

This is Yong Hwi Kim’s address at the Los Angeles tour date, Saturday November 9, 2013. The Editorial Team at headquarters has taken the liberty to break up the address into subsections to help make it easier to read. Visit Familyfed.org for updates on excerpts from the New York and D.C. tour addresses.

Good morning. I’m very happy to be here today and to speak about Father. I won’t be speaking directly about Mother, but as you listen to my lecture you will understand how important our Mother is.

I produced, with my colleagues, the new Cheon Seong Gyeong, and on the last page we put Father’s final prayer as the conclusion. I paid much notice to his prayer, especially the last words: “I have completed everything.” Father repeated this twice, and that was his last time speaking. After that he could not speak any longer. What did he mean by “everything”? “Everything” means those things God wanted him to accomplish in his lifetime, and he accomplished everything. Today I will speak about his achievements.

1945-1960: Becoming a perfected man and inheriting Jesus’s position

In 1945, Father began his mission work. He first worked in South Korea, where he contacted many spiritualist groups. At that time, he had not yet proclaimed the Divine Principle, therefore he could not speak even one word of the Divine Principle. He just spoke about the Bible—New Testament, Old Testament—and tried very hard to persuade people to follow him. Some testified to him, but they did not follow him.

In 1946, Heavenly Father told Father to go to North Korea because Father could not find his supporting group in South Korea. He went to North Korea and arrived in Pyongyang on June 6, 1946. There he also tried to contact spiritualist groups, but he failed in North Korea again.

He met Mrs. Heo, a spiritualist group leader, and her husband, and talked with them, but they did not follow him. He met them in the jail of the Pyongyang Taedong security police station where Father stayed for 100 days. He could not directly meet the spiritualist group leader because she was in the women’s prison, but he met her husband who was sent into the same prison as Father. He talked with the husband, who said that he would follow his wife.

It was a very dangerous time, but finally Father wrote a message to Mrs. Heo on a small piece of paper and had it sent to her. It said, “You pray and find out who I am. Deny everything and get released.” When she read this and prayed, she understood somewhat that Father was not an ordinary person but a special person, but she did not follow him because Father said, “Deny everything.” This meant for her to deny her doctrines. She had been accused because of her mission work, and communists wanted to send her to trial. She saw two choices: One was to follow the Bible, and the other to follow Father. If she was to follow Father, she had to give up the Bible. She decided that following the Bible was a safer option than following Father, and because of that she didn’t listen to Father. They were all killed in the jail, and because the paper was found Father was beaten almost to death and thrown out of the station. Miraculously, Father was revived and could continue, but because of these failures he then had to go through the course of three tests.

The First Test: To be testified as the Messiah

Jesus, when he was rejected by his people and Judaism faced three temptations from Satan. In the same way, Father had to go through the course of three tests. The first course was to find and go to the woman who was called the “wife of God.” Her name was Mrs. Pak and Father went to her house and served her and her family as servant of servants. He could not sleep in the room; he slept in the barn and did all kinds of manual work. I had a friend from Pyongyang whose house was near Mrs. Pak’s house, and he had seen Father at that time and said he looked very healthy and handsome. Why would such a person come to this house and serve like a slave? No one could understand that. They called him all kinds of bad names, and someone even cursed him, but Father did not pay attention to them and just served the family with all his heart and body.

We know the eight-stage elevation program from the Divine Principle: From servant of servants’ place to servants’ place, going up to first son’s place, to illegitimate son’s place and real son’s place, etc. up all eight stages. Mrs. Pak gave a testimony to Father, saying, “You are the Prime Minister of God’s Kingdom,” and this was the sixth place. She later said, “You are like Jesus. You’re a man like Jesus.” The seventh. And the final testimony was, “You are the man of God’s substantial object.” By this he reached the eighth, highest place. Then Father said to her, “Now that you have testified to me, now and from now on, you have to follow me.” However, she had been filled with the Holy Spirit when she gave a good testimony to Father, but when she came back to her own consciousness she couldn’t understand what she had said and she did not follow him. Therefore, Father had to leave her place, but he succeeded in that his position was testified by the spirit world that he was the son of God and in the position of the Messiah, and so he passed the first of the course of three tests.

The Second Test: To obtain the seal of God

The second test took place in the spirit world. Father went to the spirit world and he said that for 43 days he fought there with God’s truth. There, all the great saints and even God was present. Father’s insistence and conviction was that the most important things in the providence of restoration are the change of blood lineage, change of heart and change of ownership.

He also, among many other things, talked to Jesus. Jesus had talked about his second coming, which confused people. Jesus said he was coming, but actually, another person was to come, so, in one respect, this statement can be seen as a mistake. Because of that there was confusion among Christians.

Father also talked to Confucius. According to Father, Confucius did not know God or understand that God is a God of character, and God’s character is the origin of human character. He only vaguely used the word, “heaven” instead of “God.”

All saints came against Father, and even God said, “This guy, who served Mrs. Pak’s house as servant of servants, this guy says such things.” Even God came against Father because Adam had betrayed God, therefore to indemnify that, God took this position, but Father did not bend his conviction. He was firm and strong, and finally, God said, “This Sun Myung Moon is right!” This was the seal of God and this is what Father meant when he said, “I came with the seal of God.”

The Third Test: To inherit Jesus’ mission

The third test course was for Father to succeed the mission of Jesus. Where did Jesus finish his life? He finished his life on top of the cross. Therefore, Father had to go to the cross. Where was that? A place worse to endure than a cross, that was a Communist country’s hard labor camp, a place where they killed people, didn’t feed laborers enough and overworked them. People gradually die in this environment.

Father went, worked and suffered in the Heungnam labor camp for two years, seven months and twenty days. How could he survive there? The people who were there with Father and released at the time of Father’s release gave their testimony that they never saw Father sleeping. Did Father not sleep? He slept, but later than anybody else, and got up earlier than anybody else. Therefore, nobody could see Father sleeping. Not only that, he received three citations for being a model prisoner and model laborer. Even though it was Satan’s work, he did his best in doing his duty.

He also always kept his dignity as the son of God. Prisoners received water rationed for drinking, and Father kept some water aside and with wet paper always washed his body at night before going to sleep. Heaven had to be moved by such a life.

The reason why Jesus died was because he lost twelve disciples. If the twelve disciples had followed him to the end, Jesus would not have died. For Father to be released from the hard labor camp, he had to restore twelve disciples in the prison.

Today, we are living in a free world. We are free to talk, read and do anything we like, but how difficult it is, still, to witness to people. In prison, however, you cannot talk, especially about God. You cannot give each other something to read. Without speaking, how can you witness to people and find your disciples? There’s no other way than moving the spirit world. The spirit world helped Father. They worked and chose people, and through dreams talked to them about Father. By this Father could have twelve disciples in the prison and could be safely released. In 1950, when United Nations forces went up to North Korea, they first went to Heungnam. Thus on October 14, the day Father was to be executed, Father was, instead, released.

After he was released from prison, Father came back to Pyongyang on foot where he visited all his members who had been following Father before he went to prison. He visited them and talked to them, saying they should come with him, but no one followed him anymore. Later I heard from one of those members, who said, “Father never spoke any word of Divine Principle. If Father had spoke of and taught Divine Principle at that time, we would not have gone away from him.”

When Father left Pyongyang to go to South Korea, he came with Won Pil Kim and Mr. Chong Hwa Pak, who had leg problems. He put Mr. Pak on a bicycle and took him all the way to South Korea. After he came to South Korea, from May 11, 1951 to May 10, 1952, for one year, Father wrote the original text of the Divine Principle. Then the next year, starting in July 1953, he began to preach his new words. 1953 was the year during which Father was 33 years of age, exactly the age at which Jesus left this world.

1960-1981: Father and Mother became True Parents and began the work of salvation through the Blessing

Father’s first mission was to become a perfected man and to succeed, as Messiah, Jesus’s position. He did this in North Korea and then came down to South Korea. In 1960 he began his next mission after receiving the Holy Marriage Blessing from Heavenly Father.

First Adam and first Eve fell. And Jesus, the second Adam, died because he could not find second Eve. If Jesus had found second Eve, he would have received God’s blessing and his course would have been completely changed. Father came as the third Adam, and succeeded as Adam.

Finding Third Eve and becoming True Parents

His first mission as third Adam was to find third Eve, and Father succeeded. When Mother first came to Cheong pa-dong in 1958, I was there, in the fire room on the ground floor of the church. She was a small, young lady, a high school student. She was younger than Father by 23 years. In 1960, when she was chosen, Father was 40 years old, and Mother was seventeen.

She was in a school girls’ uniform, so she seemed plain, but when Father saw her he immediately knew who she was and prayed to Heavenly Father, “Father, I am so grateful that you sent Hak Ja Han to Korea.” Father had a special prayer to God of great thanks. Mother was chosen as third Eve and Father could receive the Heavenly Blessing in marriage in 1960.

Salvation through The Blessing

After this, Father’s salvation work immediately started. Before that he had just been preaching, not giving salvation. What is true salvation? True salvation is to change Satan’s blood lineage to God’s blood lineage. If this is true, Jesus gave new words and elevated his followers’ position somewhat, but he could not change their blood lineage.

Father’s Blessing was April 11, 1960, and after five days, on April 16, he blessed three couples in holy matrimony. This was the beginning of true salvation of earthly men and women. In the next year, 1961, he blessed 33 couples; in 1962, he blessed 72 couples, and in 1963 he blessed 124 couples.

After that he stopped the blessing ceremonies, because in those days they all became church center leaders, and by Blessing them the center leader numbers decreased by half as husband and wife went to live together. Because of that, they had to postpone the next Blessing. The next Blessing took place in 1968, and that was a Blessing of 433 couples.

1981-2000: Ancestor liberation toward Satan’s surrender and the realm of the fourth Adam

The Holy Marriage Blessing went on, and that was the blessing salvation of people on Earth, but where are more people living: on the Earth or in the spirit world? There are so many more people in the spirit world you cannot compare. Now, on this Earth, there are 7.5 billion people. How many are in the spirit world? Can you imagine? More than a trillion.

How old is the history of homo sapiens? Many archaeologists do surveys all around the world and have found the same bones as our modern humans that date back to 35,000 years ago. From this, we can understand that human history is more than 35,000 years old.

Today, biology developed to a very high level and the study of genes and DNA is highly advanced. From the evolution of genes, they now found that human history could be at least 50,000 years old. How many generations is that? Can you imagine? 1800 generations. Then how many people are in the spirit world?

Now, in Africa, for example, how many children are born? Sometimes ten to twelve in a family. Of course they don’t have a good medical system and they cannot feed them well, therefore, many children die. However, if they die, they are still alive in the spirit world. Once man is born, spirit man never disappears. They go to the spirit world. Therefore, an unbelievable number of people are living in the spirit world. Therefore Father’s concern is much more to the spirit world and the salvation of spirit men and women.

Ancestor liberation

Now, how can Father save spirits? There was no one who did anything about this before in the world. Father was the first one, and he began the salvation of spirits in the spirit world in 1997, in America. That was a time when we were Blessing 40 million couples throughout the world.

November 29, 1997: this was the day when the first Blessing Ceremony for people in the spirit world took place.

Father blessed, together with 40 million couples, five great saints and three devils. Did you know that? Five great saints, who are they? Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Muhammad, and Socrates. And who are the three devils? Stalin, Hitler, and one more.

Stalin, how many people did he kill? More than 50 million. How about Hitler? Father blessed all those terrible killers with great saints. Why did he do that? Because he wanted to shock all the spirits in the spirit world. By giving The Blessing to those devils, now other evil spirits and everyone in the spirit world quiver. If those evil guys can be blessed then why not even us, who did not do as many bad things as they did? If they were to receive The Blessing, why not us? Everyone came to have hope for The Blessing. This was Father’s strategy: to shake up the spirit world. Satan built a wall between Satan’s side and God’s side. No one could go over this wall, but this Blessing of these three devil men was like making small holes in the wall. If a small hole is made in a dam, what will happen? As time goes by, gradually, the dam begins to collapse.

Father held many assemblies and gave many declarations and proclamations. Why did he do so many things? Today I will show you how Father gradually prepared, through those declarations and proclamations, for the salvation of spirits in the spirit world.

December 1, 1997, two days later, Father declared the opening of the gates to the Blessing for people in the spirit world. What happened then in the spirit world? Everybody shouted, “Now, a new time is coming!” For them, a good time was coming.

May 15, 1998 was the declaration for the opening of Hell and the opening of the Kingdom of God. Many members know what Father did, but we did not know how this act connected with spiritual salvation. We heard, “Oh, Father is doing something strange.” That was what we thought, but actually Father followed a precise strategy by which he would make such declarations.

June 13, 1998 the 360 Million Couples’ Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony was held throughout the world. At the same time, Father proclaimed the Unification Blessing Ceremony of people in the spirit world with people on Earth. Now, when a woman is here on earth and a man is passed away, for example, Father could bless this living person and dead person together as a couple. Father opened the way for spirit beings and physical beings to receive The Blessing.

February 12, 1999, Father began the ancestor liberation ceremony at the Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center. He opened the training center for this purpose. The first seven generations in one’s direct blood lineage could be liberated, and after that liberation for older generations continued. Father told us to liberate and bless up to ten generations. Now it has changed to 420 generations.

How many generations did you liberate? How many generations did you bless? Why is this important? You have to understand this. Now, there are so many people—more than maybe several trillion, we don’t know—in the spirit world. Therefore, when Father hadn’t yet begun this, the entire spirit world was dark. No one, except Jesus, was of God’s blood lineage. After Father began the Blessing Ceremonies and our Blessed Couples went to the spirit world, they were also of God’s side and part of God’s blood lineage. How many were there? A very small number, while Satan’s side had several trillion. Therefore, the spirit world was completely dark.

If you read Father’s words, Father says many times: the time will come when Heaven gives disease and medicine together. Do you understand what this means? The spirit world works and gives disease and also gives medicine to cure. The time will come when, if people do not listen to Father’s message, the spirit world will give them disease, and when they repent they will receive the cure. Such things did not happen yet. Why? Because the spirit world is completely dominated by Satan’s side. When God’s side of the spirit world occupies more than half of the spirit world, the good spirit world can dominate this whole world.

What do we have to do? All of us Blessed Couples, do we have to go to Cheongpyeong and do ancestor liberation and ancestor Blessing, or not? We have to do that. Our members, especially old members, do not know this. When we say, “Did you go to Cheongpyeong?” they say, “Oh, Cheongpyeong is doing this to make money.” This is not so.

How many good spirits do we have in the spirit world? Since 1999, we have been doing this ancestor liberation, and this year in October we had a special festival in Cheongpyeong. How many do we have now? 480 billion good spirits. Still, it’s not much. This number should be increased rapidly. How?

When we finish liberating 210 generations, how many will that be? When you liberated your ancestors and Blessed 210 generations— your husband’s side going four lines, the wife’s side going four lines, and together making eight lines—how many will there be? Less than 4000. With each number, can we reach up to 480 billion people? No. There are not only our ancestors in our life. There are many evil spirits around us, at home, in the neighborhood, on the streets, everywhere. They also need to get liberated and go to the spirit world and get education.

Spirit world education

When I made the Cheon Seong Gyeong, I asked my colleagues to find Father’s words when he said he wanted to establish an education institute in the spirit world. To have ancestor liberation, there must be an education institute in the spirit world. Otherwise we cannot do this.

Up until the time that Father established one, do you think Satan allowed the establishment of education institutes in the spirit world? No. If that was established and spirits got an education, then what would happen to Satan? He would lose his power; therefore he never allowed the establishment of an education institute in the spirit world.

However, in 1984, Heung Jin Nim [the second son of Father and Mother Moon] died, and when Father sent him to the spirit world, he said, “I am sending Heung Jin instead of Father.” In 1989, Dae Mo Nim, mother of True Mother, passed away, and Father also gave her a mission: “You go to the spirit world in place of Mother.” In the spirit world, from that time, Father and Mother’s representatives began to work there. Jeongseong (devotional offering), prayer work, they did all kinds of things. Other members, Blessed Couples, who went to the spirit world, also worked with them, and all this combined with Father’s work here allowed Father to establish an education institute in the spirit world. This was actually revolutionary work. Until Father came, there was no institute.

Because of this, Divine Principle must be updated accordingly. We say in the resurrection theory that all the spirits want to come down on Earth to us, and on our spiritual foundation they can get resurrection. Is that right, for spirits to get resurrection, to have the physical foundation of men on Earth? That is written in the Divine Principle, but is that right? They would have to listen to the Divine Principle and practice it. For them to get resurrection they would have to come down, and when we listen to the Divine Principle they would have to come and listen with us. However, after education is established in the spirit world, they can learn the Divine Principle in the spirit world. Which is easier, to hear directly from the spirit world or to come down and listen to it? Which is more difficult? We cannot compare it: in the spirit world it is much easier.

When we witness to people, is it easy for you to witness to people and to bring them to our church? They deny there is a God. They don’t know God exists. They don’t know that the spirit world exists. They don’t know they have their own spirit man inside their physical body. They don’t know that. It is very difficult to make them understand and bring them to our church. But in the spirit world, do they know of God’s existence? Of course they know. They are living in the spirit world, so there is no need to explain that. They know everything, so it’s very easy to bring people. Not only that: on this Earth people say, “Oh I have to eat, I have to wear clothes, have a house and a job to pay my living costs. I have to feed my children and educate them, so I cannot come.” This is what they say. In the spirit world, you don’t have to eat. You don’t need to worry about clothing. You don’t have to have a house. No job is needed. Everything is there already. For them, is it easy or difficult to come? Very easy. Therefore, witnessing in the spirit world is much easier than witnessing on the Earth.

Therefore, Father is putting more emphasis on salvation of spirits in the spirit world. To help Father’s plan, what do we have to do? We can cooperate with Father, go to Cheongpyeong and participate in the ancestor liberation and ancestor blessing ceremonies.

To receive The Blessing, we have to receive the Holy Wine Ceremony and the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony. By drinking holy wine we can change the blood lineage. But holy wine does not exist in the spirit world. Holy wine is only present on the Earth because Father made it to save people on Earth, those who have a physical body. Therefore, in order to receive The Blessing, all the spirits have to come down to Earth after they receive the 100-day training in the spirit world. We go to Cheongpyeong to hold The Blessing Ceremony for those in the spirit world. They come and we hold their Holy Wine Ceremony cups for them to drink there, spiritually. In this way, they can receive The Blessing. They have to come down and through us they can be blessed and have their blood lineage changed. Therefore, we are very important. This is most important, and if all members do it, the spirit world will change quickly.

Several years ago, Father asked Hoon Mo Nim [Hyo Nam Kim, the physical representative of Dae Mo Nim], “How is ancestor liberation going?” Hoon Mo Nim could not lie to Father. She couldn’t answer right away and took some time, so Father knew the answer and was very angry. At that time he told us we have to bless up to 210 generations. He did not state so directly a number before because he understood that all the members knew the importance of the ancestor liberation and ancestor blessing ceremony. Father thought that because, after hard work and much sacrifice, he could establish a spiritual education center in the spirit world and have the ancestor liberation and blessing ceremony, that all members understood this as well. However when he found that they did not, he was so sad.

From that time on, whenever he went to America from Korea, he asked all the leaders to come to the airport. Even from the airport, he was emphatic that “all the members do this.” One thing I cannot understand is, even though Father said that, no official letter was sent out. I never saw it. This is our situation now. Father was so sad. We have to go along with Father.

Satan’s nation surrenders

Education has been established and we began ancestor liberation, and on March 21, 1999, Satan surrendered. This is a historical event. In the spirit world, Lucifer and Satan is no more. His subordinates, however, continue doing the same thing. After Kim Il Sung died, Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong Un continued on the same path as their ancestor. Satan, first of all Satans, went away, but still the followers are working hard. Therefore, we need to make a new revolution to make the number of good spirits exceed the number of evil spirits. This is our time.

After Satan’s nation surrendered, Father gave another declaration: the Declaration of the Cosmic Realm of Unification and Liberation by our True Parents. You know 9/9 day? September 9, 1999 (9/9/99, and also 9:09:09). Plus, Father’s age was 79. Every time Father does something, change comes to the spiritual world and physical world. This 9/9 day came and the wall between Heaven and Earth began to crumble, so now it is free to travel between this world and the spirit world. This time has come.

The next day, September 10, 1999, he announced three ten day. This is the day when numbers from one to ten were dedicated to God’s side and the Old Testament, New Testament and Complete Testament ages were completely indemnified and restored. Everything was cleansed.

Did you hear that Father failed something when he did his work? Did you ever hear that? No, you didn’t. I was always with Father and I never heard that, but in his words, he said he failed once. You know when that was? It’s in the Cheon Seong Gyeong. After 1960, Father began a seven-year course, three times. It ended in 1981, but he did not say anything about that and he declared the beginning of the Completed Testament Age in 1993. Why did he not say anything in 1981? Actually, that time period was a failure. At that time, God expected things from us but we could not reach that, and in 1984, Heung Jin Nim passed away and the same year, Father went to Danbury prison. We had to repent at that time, because we were not united with True Parents. Do you remember? Older members may remember.

Did you hear about the “wilderness age”? The wilderness age came. Why did it come? When Moses failed, when his followers did not unite with him, a wilderness age came. See? In Father’s time, Father went through South America and had a very terrible time there. He had to go through all kinds of hardships to indemnify that.

The realm of the fourth Adam

After Satan surrendered and 9/9 day and three ten day came, Father declared another one: the Declaration of the Day of Blessing and Liberation for the Whole Cosmos, October 23, 1999. In 1999 he did many things. You know why? It was the end of the 20th century. The next year, a new century was to begin, so he wanted to finish as much as possible and made many proclamations in 1999. Satan’s surrender came in 1999 along with many things.

On October 24, 1999, Father declared the coming of the realm of the fourth Adam. You remember that? Father became fourth Adam. Up to a third Adam, first Adam failed, second Adam failed and with third Adam there was also some failure, therefore all those things were cleansed so Father could stand in the position of fourth Adam. Fourth Adam has nothing to do with failure.

Father’s position changed to fourth Adam, and then on November 7, 1999, Cheongpyeong training center added a new building and on December 12, 1999 ancestor blessing ceremonies began. This was almost at the end of 1999. Through ancestor blessing, spirits come completely to God’s side, because with Satan’s blood lineage they are still under the dominion of Satan but when their blood lineage changes to God’s side through The Blessing, they come under the dominion of God. This is why ancestor blessing is so important. By this, spirit’s blood lineage can change.

2000-2012: Returning the cosmos to God

The next year, June 29, 2000, was the Declaration of the Return of the Cosmos to God. By this, now God can have the whole cosmos back.

January 13, 2001 was the Coronation for the Kingship of God. For God to become king, he needs people not only on the Earth but in the spirit world to be His people. Through the change of blood lineage God came to have His people in the spirit world. First there were very few: Jesus and Blessed Couples who passed away; but because of the ancestor blessing the number of spirits of God’s blood lineage began to increase rapidly. Therefore in 2001 God could restore His Kingship. By reading about the Coronation of God’s Kingship Ceremony, we can understand how Father precisely designed his providence. If you don’t know this, thinking, “Oh, Father’s just doing something,” then you cannot connect, you cannot understand the meaning. Whenever Father does something, there is always deep significance there.

Father’s most important mission was to restore Adam and Eve. Because of the Fall of Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve were lost and Satan came into existence, and Adam and Eve’s children all became Satan’s people, of his blood lineage. What Father had to do was restore Adam and Eve’s original position back to God and restore the people who were multiplied by fallen Adam and Eve. That was the main thing Father had to do, and Father succeeded. True Parents became third Adam and Eve and began restoring men and women on Earth and spirit men and women in the spirit world. Because Father opened this way, as time passes, the numbers will increase. It was so important to make the way for all people to be saved by our Father.

Up to this you understand easily, but there is another aspect of this important mission you don’t understand. What was God’s desire when He created Adam and Eve? Only to multiply children and establish God’s Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven? Do you think that was all? There is more. Most importantly, God is an invisible God, but wants to be a visible God. God wants to have substantial form, because as invisible God He cannot be the Parent of the whole universe effectively. God knew that, therefore the reason for which He created Adam and Eve was to take their form as His form and His body. This was the most important thing. Father put emphasis on this in his work.

In 2010 and 2011, Father repeated the same thing all the time. You know what that was? “Assembly for the settlement of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind, who, as God’s embodiment, proclaim the word.” We had this meeting on July, 8 2010 in Korea, July 24, 2010 in the USA, 2010, August 23, 2010 in Israel, with the same text, November 22, 2010 in New York, November 27, 2010 in Las Vegas and December 4, 2010 in Seoul, Korea, all with the same title. Whenever he did Hoon Dok Hwe, he always read this text. Why did he repeat it? He never did such a thing in the past. This is so important.

Here I am holding a copy of the lecture text Father used when he spoke. This has big letters because Father’s eyes were not so good, but he made a copy of this and gave it to all in attendance. Why did he do that? He never did this before.

In 2011, he did the same assembly with the same title, but in this second one he put “cosmic,” meaning the spirit world and physical world together. “Cosmic Assembly for the Settlement of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind, Who, as God’s Embodiment, Proclaim the Word.” Whenever he did Hoon Dok Hwe in the morning in Korea, which was every morning, he read this address each time. On True Parents’ Day, True Children’s Day, he also did the same thing. He loved this message so much. We published two books: one is the Cheon Seong Gyeong (Heaven’s Holy Scripture) and the other isPeace Scripture. Peace Scripture is the collection of Father’s speeches, but we did not put this address in Peace Scripture. We put this speech in the Cheon Seong Gyeong, because this is a special one. There is such a deep meaning in this text.

On March 5, 2011 in Las Vegas and April 24, 2011 in Incheon, Korea, he used this same text, and this is not final. In this book, he added onto the last page. His original text ended on page 73—but on the next page, 74, he added, by hand, that the providential final purpose was achieved. It was July 3, 2011 by the heavenly calendar, so this was almost September. This was not the last addition. Again, on page 75, he wrote a declaration sentence: “Greatest Victory Memorial Day of Cheon Il Guk.” He never said this before. Why did he say this? Here, he said True Parents and True God became one.

Now I will read this, on page 74. It’s written in Korean but I’ll translate into English. “The final purpose of the providence has been achieved.1. Perfected, 2. Concluded, and 3. Completed,” he repeated this three times here, and said, “Reign of tranquility and prosperity is completed. Year two of the heavenly foundation, third day of the seventh month by the heavenly calendar, 2011. The age of Hoon Dok Hwe is completed and perfected.” Many members read this but they don’t know what it means. What do you think “the age of Hoon Dok Hwe is completed and perfected” means? This means that by doing Hoon Dok Hwe, we can make our spirit selves grow to perfection. It means that, because God created Man with His words, we fail with the loss of God’s words. By reading God’s words daily, our spirit man can grow and finally can become perfected. By this you can understand the importance of Hoon Dok Hwe. This declaration here is a signed contract between Heavenly Father and Father, not just a declaration. When Father said this, God’s guarantee was behind it. Father is not just saying it, but it is approved by Heavenly Father and Heavenly Father guaranteed this. Therefore if we do Hoon Dok Hwe as Father is emphasizing, results will come. Is it easy to get rid of all the fallen, evil and self-centered nature? It is very difficult. However by doing Hoon Dok Hwe, we can do it easily.

The next page, page 75, says: “Proclamation—the Memorial Day of the Greatest Victory ofCheon Il Guk (God’s Heavenly Kingdom).”That was November 17-18, 2011, between two days. This is by the heavenly calendar; therefore this is almost the end of 2011, the last part of December. Father worked so hard to bring this day. Because of this he came to Las Vegas and then New York and back to Korea to do it again. It is unhealthy for old men to fly long distances. With the time lag, your body loses control, but Father did it anyway. He knew that, and I think he also already knew he didn’t have much time left of his life. Therefore he was so hasty and busy and worked so hard.

Here he wrote, “The record of the eternal victory is completed. It is finalized in perfection and completion. Aju.” This is what Father said. He signed here, dated, and added a very important final note, “The oneness of the True Parents and True God is complete. God is perfected, concluded and completed. Aju.” He wrote here, “God is perfected.” By who is God perfected? By True Parents. Father said that God, too, is growing. If God has no physical or spiritual body, then what grows? God’s heart grows because of all the things God faces. God’s heart becomes bigger and bigger. God is now perfected; what does this mean? God wish was to have substantial form, and now the wish is fulfilled. Father said God was perfected, by True Parents. Was there anybody who made God perfect before in history? No, never. Never before, never after. Father is the only one who could do this.

Here you understand the importance of the unity of Father and Mother. If Father and Mother are not united, how can they ride with God? Can they ride with God? No. Now with Father in the spirit world, where will he come? Where will he come down to when he comes to Earth? To Mother. You have to understand that. Without Mother, Father cannot become True Parents. Who is most important to Father? Mother is the most important being. The unity between Father and Mother is so important. Therefore, they have equal value. If there is no Mother, there’s no Father. If there is no Father, there’s no Mother. They are equal. Some people say that Mother is lower than Father. No. If you admit that, you are saying that women must be much lower than men, but at the same time you insist on equality between men and women. In God there is male and female; they are equal. Without one, the other cannot sustain. Therefore, when I explain the importance of Mother, I say that in God there is a Mother God and Father God. If you understand all of this, the only true explanation is that as the oneness between True Parents and God is completed, Father must come to Mother, no exception.

2012, the next year, was the final meeting: “Assembly to Inherit and Accomplish the Opening of the Age of the Victory, Liberation and Completion of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.” In Japan they had the “Cosmic Assembly to Declare the Age of the Victory, Liberation and Completion of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.” In Japan and Korea, we did this, including six locations in Japan, March 6, 2012.

How great are our True Parents? You can understand that now. In history there was no one who did this much work, even if you compare the work of Jesus to that of True Parents. Jesus could not bring a single person to God’s blood lineage. Jesus could not do anything like that. He elevated people somewhat and many went to paradise with Jesus, but they were still of Satan’s blood lineage. God could not control them. They could not enter God’s dominion. We Blessed Families are of God’s blood lineage. Therefore, even if we do something wrong, we don’t go to Satan’s side. We remain in God’s dominion. There is a difference. Satan cannot take us to his side, because the blood lineage is completely different. Father made this possible for us.

We have many difficulties here around us. Do they matter so much, do you think? Because Father finished his mission, there is nothing to worry about. Many sad things happen, and of course we regret them and hope for them not to happen, but even though they happen, the providence still goes forward. Time passes. All the people on Earth and the spirits in the spirit world will undoubtedly come back to God’s side. This year, I had an interview withSegye Ilbo, and said that we in this century—all men and women on Earth—we will see the great day of change come. Everyone will witness with their eyes the great change of God and the providence come on Earth and in the spirit world.

So, is our future bright or what? Bright, right? I hope we all can do our part and share this glory and honor with our True Parents.

1. Do you believe in an afterlife? (non necessarily from a Christian point of view, but in any form)

2. If yes, do you believe in a returning resurrection as described in the Unification Principles?

3. Do you consider it reasonable, regardless of religious belief, to prepare for one’s own death through wills, trust funds, or charitable foundations to pass on one’s wealth and/or achievements at the time of passing in order to further the work you have been engaged in while on earth?

4. If you could instruct younger people in picking up, following and/or fulfilling your mission or your life objectives and goals, how would you prepare them?

5. What accomplishments and/or discoveries would you like to share with future generations and how can we create a support group to accomplish that?

6. How do you keep yourself spiritually energized and moving forward, no matter what the circumstances?

7. Creating a life of prosperity and abundance, for ourselves and the generations ahead – what’s it going to really take?